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| Always wanted a pond to but have a place to put one on my property. I was thinking of maybe doing a deck pond in a container between 1/2 barrel (20g) and water trough (50-75g) sized.
I don't have full sun on my deck though. There's dappled sun most of the day after the trees come in in mid-May. It's southern exposure but there are a lot of tree. So, would I be able to have any decent plants? There's wetlands behind my house with Arum, marsh marigold, pickerel weeds, etc. with about the same light. I figure I could grow marginals like that. Would be nice to have one water lily though. |
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| No reason you couldn't do a water garden in the shade. Blooming plants will generally still grow well, they just won't bloom. Many marginals will grow quite nicely in the shade. You could also tuck some bare rooted impatiens in there and they will bloom beautifully. |
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- Posted by pashta_2006 Z4 ADK NY (pashta@aol.com) on Tue, Jun 1, 10 at 7:45
| My suggestion is to have your new deck water garden as large as your deck can support. They are never "big enough". :-) However, that said, while I was digging the hole for my first pond I kept the water plants (which I bought before doing any digging) in a 20 gal blue tub. Apparently there were fish eggs on them and I suddenly had about 45 little eyelashes with eyes swimming around. That was so exciting. I was delighted with my little 20 gal pond all summer. So... if 20 gal is what works best for your space, that will provide fishy enjoyment! BTW... the only survivor of those 45 fish is still alive (5 years later)and producing eggs all summer. I believe there are a couple of kinds of water lilies that do blossom in shadier areas. I'm sure someone will be able to tell you what they are and where to get them. Good luck! Please take pictures. We love pictures!! |
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| We have a three pool 1400 gallon pond on our deck. The nice thing about it is you can sit on the deck and watch the fish. Obviously it does not look natural. We have enjoyed all of the visitors to the pond. If you put one in the deck make sure there is surge capacity. There are sluices between the ponds and balancing the flow is a problem. Too large of pump and you will raise the level of the top pool above the liner. With the pond in the deck be prepared for the wild parties. Periodically the raccoons will have a pool party. Several raccoons displace a lot of water, which overflows in the pump chamber. We have went out many mornings to a pump sucking air because the water level in the lower pond is too low to flow into the pump chamber. Large dogs like Labs like to swim also, with the same results. Fortunate the previous owner made it deep enough with vertical side so the the animals can not get the fish. |
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- Posted by garden_mama_66 (My Page) on Tue, Jun 1, 10 at 22:37
| My only caution to you would be that you will get much more leaves and such in your pond. In a pond that small though, cleaning it shouldn't be that bad. I have an above ground, landscape timber pond right up next to my deck and I love it. We do have trees overhead though which means more work and using a net to cover it certain times of the year. I'm with the other poster though who said to make it as big as you can. If you are like most of us, you start small, then want more pond. |
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- Posted by learn2turn 6 (My Page) on Wed, Jun 2, 10 at 13:41
| I live next to the woods and I have raccoons that are fully capable of opening a metal trash can that's buggy-corded close in order to get the bird seed in it. I can only imagine what they'd do if I want ahead with the pond thing. It's a stupid idea. Still, I saw a 70g rubbermaid water trough on craigslist for $80. Would make a nice deck pond if I built an attractive wood box around it. |
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